Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Obviously when it comes to Georgia quarterbacks, most of the attention is still on Aaron Murray. As it should be.

But there’s still a lingering question: who would play if something untoward did happen to Murray. It especially needs to be asked after Logan Gray has had to sit out practice the past week with a sprained ankle. Gray, while still working at receiver, is still the presumed backup quarterback. But what if he’s not available?

Hutson Mason has had a good camp, by all accounts – although most accounts have mainly said it’s been a good camp for a true freshman. Head coach Mark Richt was asked Monday if a decision was forthcoming on whether Mason will redshirt.

“I guess we really haven’t thought much about it,” Richt said. “Every day you’re just practicing and coaching and teaching. We haven’t really gotten close enough to where we wanna say what we’re gonna do. But it’s coming up, we’re gonna have to talk about it pretty quick.”

If a decision is made on Mason, here’s betting it’s not written in stone.

Ideally, Murray will take every snap this year, or Gray would get any extra reps, and Mason will preserve his redshirt. Then the program would go forward next year with Murray a redshirt sophomore, Mason a redshirt freshman and Christian LeMay (presumably) a true freshman. That’s good depth at the sport’s most key position, something the team clearly lacks now.

Then again, with Gray’s injury fresh in their mind, the coaches could decide that Mason will have to be ready just in case. So when the Bulldogs get the game in hand (they hope) against Louisiana-Lafayette, Mason trots out there to get some snaps. I wouldn’t put my life savings on that happening. Then again, I don’t have much in the way of live savings.

Murray did have good things to say about Mason on Monday, namely for the true freshman’s poise.

“He’s surprised me a lot,” Murray said. “His, I guess you could call swag on the field, he’s definitely very confident out there. You can tell with his drop-back and his moving – he does a great job moving around the pocket.”

In fact, Murray said he’s occasionally used Mason as a model on how to do certain things in practice. And from personal experience, Murray thinks the new kid will benefit from his current practice reps.

“He’s going against our No. 1 defense. And he’s able to move around and make some plays, not only with his arm but his feet. I told him, Hey I faced the No. 1 defense all last year, I was scout team quarterback, and it really helps you. It helps you get your feet going, helps you make the reads faster, and things like that.

“Now I get at quarterback and (work) with the first-team offensive line, and it’s like Whoa. You feel like everything’s slowed down, you have time to make your drop, make your reads, it really helps you as a quarterback in that whole growing process.”

yeah, but moggs, if time spent in the program was the only contributing factor to success on the field, Tereshinski and Cox would have been beyond stellar QBs. Mason is a much more talented pure passer than Gray, and for that reason much more can be expected of him in UGA's pro-style offense, in much less time.

Who has come in as a true-summertime frosh and not really skipped a beat? Tim's got it though, King/Ealey trading out QB snaps with Munzenmaier (sp?) and Chapas leading behind a heavy dose of White, Figgins, Lynch, and Charles.

With Logan Gray doing nothing but Wide Receiver, and with his horrid play at QB for UGA over four (4) years now of watching him try to play the position for Mike Bobo and Coach Richt, if Aaron Murray goes down, I am changing my prediction of 12-2 for the season; however, I give no quarter if it does.

While the first quarter comment is surely a joke, it would be really nice to see Hutson run a series or two in the late 3rd or 4th quarter, assuming we're up by 20+ points. If we aren't up big, I have all sorts of other concerns...

Lucky for me, I'm pretty sure we WILL be up big! And if I'm gonna see a backup come in, I'd rather see Mason and Logan.

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About the Author

Seth Emerson has been covering the SEC and Georgia (on and off) since 2002. He worked at the Albany Herald from 2002-05, then spent five years at The State in Columbia, S.C., covering South Carolina. He returned to Athens in August of 2010, only to find that David Pollack and David Greene were no longer playing for the Bulldogs. Adjustments were made.

Emerson is originally from Silver Spring, Md., and graduated from Maryland in 1998 with a degree in journalism and a minor in getting lost on the way to practically everywhere. Then he spent four years at The Washington Post, covering small colleges, a couple NCAA basketball tournaments, and on one glorious day, was yelled at by Tony Kornheiser. It was probably at The Post that he also learned to write in the third person.

These days he lives in Athens with his beloved and somewhat wimpy dog, Archie. Together they fight crime at night in northeast Georgia, except on nights there is no crime, in which case they sit at home, sip on white wine and watch reruns of "Mad Men."